We knew we wanted to make Beatrix's fourth birthday special. It was the first year she's gotten really excited about the idea of a birthday, she'd just started a new school, and everything about it had to be magical. There was just one thing that might foil our plans: mid-October weather in New York.

As it turns out, the weather gods shone down upon us with a beautiful sunny day. The carousel was the perfect plan. The children had automatic entertainment, and if they didn't feel like spinning around any more, there was a giant field behind our tables and benches for them to run around.

We had so much fun using the old Prospect Park carousel as a jumping off point. I designed everything around typical carnival colors in red, yellow, and aqua. The table was set with striped paper straws and old-fashioned popcorn boxes. The children were all given a felt crowns from Felted Kitten and decorated them with jewels from Party City. The matching invitations and party favor bags were custom designed by Peppertowne. We styled the cupcake tower to look like a carousel by topping the cupcakes with horses and other animals. I scored vintage style lollipops and had Duane Cake Patisserie match the cake to an actual carousel horse. The children left in pied piper chorus playing their mini recorders from the goodie bags.

Most importantly? The children had a blast. If I could predict the weather I would want to repeat this party every year.